* 1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author ( d. 1934 )

* 1878 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician ( b. 1796 )

Alexander Mackenzie, PC ( January 28, 1822 – April 17, 1892 ), a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.

* Sir Henri Elzear Taschereau – October 7, 1878

* 1878 – Dick Grant, Canadian runner ( d. 1958 )

** Haliotis kamtschatkana assimilis Dall, 1878 – synonym: Haliotis assimilis, the threaded abalone

Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre ( 1878 – 1956 ) and Marc Bloch ( 1886 – 1944 ).

* 1878 – Tip Foster, English cricketer ( d. 1914 )

* 1878 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian army officer ( d. 1928 )

* 1878 – Léon Binoche, French rugby player ( d. 1962 )

* 1878 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino politician, 2nd President of the Philippines ( d. 1944 )

* 1878 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager ( d. 1963 )

* George V of Hanover ( 1819 – 1878 )

* 1878 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1976 )

* Queen Victoria – the British Weights and Measures Act of 1878 defined it as containing 4, 840 square yards.

* 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American attorney and baseball owner ( d. 1961 )

* 1878 – Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and writer ( d. 1955 )

* 1878 – Alfred Döblin, German writer ( d. 1957 )

* 1929 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician ( b. 1878 )

* 1843 – Alice of the United Kingdom ( d. 1878 )

* 1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and athlete ( d. 1946 )

* 1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist ( d. 1958 )

* 1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress ( b. 1878 )

Aino Krohn Kallas ( August 2, 1878 – November 9, 1956 ) was a prominent Finnish-Estonian author.

Among the first to be named so were Aino Järnefelt ( Aino Sibelius ), born 1871 and Aino Krohn ( the later Aino Kallas ), born 1878.

He was the author of several works, the most important being The Principles and Practice of Surgery ( 1878 – 1883 ).

* Don Marquis ( 1878 – 1937 ), author of the fables of archy and mehitabel.

* 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author ( d. 1940 )

* 1878 – Janusz Korczak, Polish author and pediatrician ( d. 1942 )

* 1878 – Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss author ( d. 1947 )

** Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author ( b. 1878 )

** Akiko Yosano, Japanese author, poet ( b. 1878 )

* July 22 – Janusz Korczak ( pen-name of Henryk Goldszmit ), Polish-Jewish children's author, pediatrician, and child pedagogist ( born 1878 or 1879 ) ( d. 1942 )

* O Primo Basílio, an 1878 novel by Portuguese author José Maria Eça de Queiroz

* Hans Zinsser ( 1878 – 1940 ), microbiologist and a prolific author

The children's author Mary Grant Bruce was born in the town in 1878.

Anna Sewell ( 1820 – 1878 ), famous as the author of Black Beauty, was born in a 17th century house in Church Plain.

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson ( 2 October 1878 – 26 May 1962 ) was a British Georgian poet, associated with World War I but also the author of much later work.

* Upton Sinclair ( author, 1878 – 1968 )

The author of the 1878 History of Livingston County says only two things about Mr. Forrest: he was a business partner of C. L. Frost, an official of the Toledo, Peoria and Western, and that he had promised to do something for the young village and that promise was “ unfulfilled .” The first version of the name was said to be Forestville, spelled with one ‘ r ,” but Forrest quickly came into use.

* Upton Sinclair ( 1878 – 1968 ), author.

He is perhaps best known for his Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels of 1883 ( first published 1878 as Geschichte Israels ), in which he advanced a definitive formulation of the Documentary hypothesis, arguing that the Torah or Pentateuch had its origins in a redaction of four originally independent texts dating from several centuries after the time of Moses, their traditional author.

The elder son, John ( 1843 – 1911 ), was Bishop of Salisbury, founder of Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, and author of Fragments of Early Latin ( 1874 ); the eldest daughter, Elizabeth ( 1840 – 1932 ), was the founder ( in 1878 ) of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and its first principal in 1879.

Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit ( July 22, 1878 or 1879 – August 1942 ), was a Polish-Jewish educator, children's author, and pediatrician known as Pan Doktor (" Mr. Doctor ") or Stary Doktor (" Old Doctor ").

He became an authority on railway management as the author of Railroads, Their Origin and Problems ( 1878 ), and as president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1884 to 1890.

* Lawrence Gilman ( 1878 – 1939 ), American author and music critic

Among them were Leopold Pannier ; Marius Sepet, the author of Le Drame chrétien au Moyen Âge ( 1878 ) and Origines catholiques du théâtre moderne ( 1901 ); Charles Joret ; Alfred Morel-Fatio ; Gaston Raynaud, who was responsible for various volumes of the excellent editions published by the Société des anciens textes français ; Arsène Darmesteter ; and others.

The author of music has not been indisputably determined although the late 19th century tradition suggests that it might have been the music amateur Josip Runjanin ( 1821 – 1878 ).